Simply put, if you haven't read Civil War #2 or haven't read any of the news on the internet you shouldn't read this post. With that out of the way I'm about to get into it.
I learned that Peter Parker was going to unmask in Civil War #2 about a week ago. It was a rumor at that time and I hoped it was a red herring that Marvel was putting out there, but now I have the book in front of me and Peter does indeed unmask himself in front of the world. The question is: how do I feel about this?
Those that have known me from other websites I frequented, I am a huge Spider-Man fan. He probably goes above Batman as my favorite comic book character. Spider-Man just had that everyman feel to him, like you were along for the ride with his life and that it often ran parallel to your own (through the generations, mind you). I'm not a big fan about this reveal even after I've had time to reflect upon it.
Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief at Marvel, has been dropping on my good list quite frequently since he took over. I'm starting to believe that Quesada runs Marvel as a dictator with final say on things while Dan Didio seems to listen to his writers over at DC. You can look at the main "event" books happening right now and see what is going on. Millar pretty much has control over Ultimates 2, but he seems to be guiding the ship with Civil War, not controlling the overall movements. 52, although a collaborative effort, seems much more writer-centric to me.
Quesada has been talking about the marriage between Peter and MJ for quite a while on the Newsarama piece he does. Maybe that was the red herring to get people talking about Peter before he dropped the bomb on us all; or maybe he's hinting at things to come. I don't know how they are going to reverse the fact everyone now knows he's Spider-Man, but I have to believe that will be the end result or I may be done with Marvel.
I am indeed interested in where they are going to take this through the rest of Civil war and the "War at Home" arc in Amazing Spider-Man. I have a feeling I know what is going to happen. Spider-Man's flip from one side to another with the Registration Act has always been talked about, so at some point he'll join Captain America I'm pretty sure. So, the question will be what the trigger of the change will be. Could he become aware of Tony Stark's pupeteer play on him? Could the death of a hero move him enough to change sides? No one knows, but I have a bad feeling it is going to go down another road: The death of Aunt May, MJ or both.
At this point I'd throw Aunt May into the fire after she pushed her feelings onto Peter in ASM and moved him away from going underground. In general timeframe, May has not known Peter was Spider-Man for very long. MJ's feelings should count more than May's feelings in this case. MJ has lived through the bad times with Peter and had her life in danger plenty of times because of Peter being Spider-Man. If I had to choose one to die it would be May, but she's died before (albeit a clone of her). The more likely choice is that MJ will die and then I'm for sure done with Marvel. I'm pro-Pete/MJ marriage and think many a great story has come out of their marriage versus Pete being single.
The interesting thing about all this is that it kind of ties into House of M and the Spider-Man mini that came out during that time. In the House of M universe everyone knew Peter was Spider-Man and he even owned his own company. He also was the Green Goblin, but that's where this mini gets all crazy. The key part is that Peter lived through the House of M and remembers everything in that universe. He hasn't touched on it much in his main books, but it should have been touched on when he was making the decision. The House of M aftereffects were not very nice to him. I think the last time it came up was in Son of M #1 when he was talking to Pietro.
My hope in the end is that he will pull a Tony Stark from the past. He can say that the plain clothes Spider-Man was just a decoy and that the real Spider-Man is Iron Spidey and you don't know his secret identity. Peter will be asked why he did it and he can say he was just helping Spider-Man out. Either that or Wanda has to come back and re-arrange things again.
I'm still not happy about this, but I will see Civil War through unless they kill MJ. I love the forums at Newsarama and how people are saying May and MJ are safe because they're in Avenger's Tower. Trust me, they aren't safe, especially since the Avengers are soon to be disassembled again and who knows what the new lineup will be and if Spider-Man will even be in it. They could be out on the street with only SHIELD to protect them (and we know how good SHIELD can be).
The rest of Civil War #2 was interesting. I love seeing Captain America doing the underground movement. I think it's brilliant he got the Young Avengers and I notice that Daredevil is with Cap. Chances are excellent that the Daredevil in CW is Clint Barton (Hawkeye) while Murdock is in jail. It could also be Iron Fist or any number of other people. I can't wait for that reveal, but him being on Cap's side is a strong indication it might be Clint. I also found it interesting that Tony was apprehensive about what he was going to do the night before he unmasked himself. Maybe he's starting to doubt himself. Maybe in the end Iron Man will also change sides and it will be them against the hero hunters and SHIELD. We'll see though...